Ozonizing element



Get. 2, 1934.

R. JOHN .975,425

OZONIZING ELEMENT Original Filed June 27, 1952 fiafierh/a/m Patented Oct. 2, 1934 "PATENT OFFICE ozomzmc ELEMENT Robert John, New York, N. Y.

Application June 27, 1932, SerialNo. 619,569 Renewed November 16, 1933 8 Claims.

This invention is an improvement of the invention described in my copending application, Serial No.585,101, filed January 6, 1932, and relates to improvements in ozonizing elements and particularly to ozonizers of the silent discharge type wherein the discharge takes place through the gas being treated in sucha manner as to prevent retreatment of the gas with'consequent formation of deleterious gases.

One object of the invention is to provide an ozonizing element which is effective to produce substantially pure ozone when exposed to the atmosphere.

Another object of the invention is to provide an ozonizing element which is extremely compact in form and not easily breakable.

' Another object is to provide an element which may be easily detached from its source of electrical supply and which presents a construction which makes it impossible for the user to receive an electrical shock from the potential being impressed across its terminals in normal use.

A further object of the invention is to provide an ozonizing element in which the arrangement of electrodes is such that gas entrapping pockets consequent to positioning'an electrode on a surface exposedto the gas are located out of the zone in which the electrical discharge 'is of sufiicient concentration to cause substantial ozonization.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a novel ozonizing element in which the arrangement of electrodes is such that the electrical field produced by the impressed potential is effective to expel treated gases from the ozonizing zone, thus minimizing or eliminating retreatment thereof and the formation of deleterious oxides.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following specification describing the preferred embodiment of the invention which is shown in the attached drawing of which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the, device partly broken away;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the ozonizing element; and

Figure 3 is a perspectiveof the ozonizing element with parts removed therefrom.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, 10 indicates the ozonizing element generally and 12 indicates a transformer housing upon which the ozonizing element may be mounted;

In the form shown, the ozonizing element includes a circular plate 13 of dielectric material. This plate may be of concavo-convex formation and a glass plate such as an ordinary watch crystal is suitable. The glass plate 13 is mounted in a metal supporting rim'14 which may be an ordinary watch bezel. Secured to the concave surface of the plate 13 is a metal foil electrode 15 which, as shown in Figure 2, may be in the form of a disc. A metal foil electrode 16 is secured to the outer face or to the convex face of the plate 13 and, as shown in Figure 2, is in the form of a ring surrounding the electrode 15 and has an inner diameter greater than the diameter of the electrode 15, such that the inner edge of the electrode 16 is outwardly spaced from the electrode 15. The outer electrode 16 may be provided with a connector portion 17 extending from the ring portion of the electrode to the metal rim 14.

The electrodes 15 and 16 are preferably formed of any suitable metal having electrical conductive properties such as tin, aluminum or platinum, in the form of sheets or foil, 'or that may be applied to the opposite faces of the dielectric plate 13 by electro-plating or other plating processes. The connector 17 may be spaced from the surface of the dielectric plate 13 by an auxiliary dielectric body 18 such as a sheet of mica as shown 0 in Figure 1 and is secured at its end to the rim 14 by soldering or cementing so as to make electrical connection therewith.

As shown in Figure 1 a connector element 19 of electro-conductive material is secured to the center of the electrode 15 by soldering or cementing and extends axially of the ozonizing element. The concave portion of the dielectric plate 13 is preferably filled with a dielectric material 20 so as to completely cover the electrode 15 and the end of the connector 19 adjacent the electrode 15. For this purpose any suitable dielectric cement such as asbestos cement, sealing wax, or any other wax compounds commonly used as dielectric material in filling the air space of transformers may be used.

As shown in Figure 1 the ozonizing element 10 is particularly adapted to be positioned adjacent a flat surface of a supporting member. For purposes of illustration, the ozonizing element is shown in combination with a transformer (not shown) positioned within the transformer housing 12. One wall 21 of the transformer housing is provided with an aperture 22 through which the connector 19 is adapted to extend. The connector element 19 may be provided with an internally threaded portion 23 threadedly engaging a stud 24 supported by an insulating member 25.

The insulating member 25 is secured to the wall 21 of the transformer housing by any suitable means, for example the rivets 26. The stud 24 is electrically connected to one terminal of the transformer above mentioned. The other terminal of the transformer is in practice connected the outer electrode 15 of the ozonizing element is connected. to the transformer housing which, in practice, would be grounded, and'the other electrode and its connector 19 are completely surrounded by insulating material. It will thus be seen that accidental contact with the high tension terminal of the transformer is effectually prevented and that the danger of accidental shocks to users of the ozonizer is eliminated.

The transformer casing 12 may be provided with a conventional connector plug 28 which is adapted to support the entire unit.

As a concrete example of how such an ozonizing unit may be manufactured, the following description is given. Assuming that an element capable of producing from atmospheric air, ,000075 grams of ozone per minute, substantially free from oxides of nitrogen and other oxidizing gases than ozone, is to be made, a watch crystal having a diameter of approximately 1% inches is fitted snugly into a bezel, such that the depth of the well formed in the concave side of the crystal and bezel is approximately inches and the thickness of the watch crystal approximately 20/1000 of an inch. Acircular disc of tinfoil 1/1000 of an inch in thickness and X; of an inch in diameter is prepared and brought into intimate contact with the concave face of'the watch crystal by rubbing until all air is excluded therefrom or by cementing with the thinnest possible layer of dielectric cement such as a solution of cellulose acetate to form the electrode 15.' The connector 19 is then cemented to the center of the electrode 15. The assembly is then placed convex side down on a suitable leveling apparatus and filled with hot wax or cold dielectric cement 20 of the character above described.

When the dielectric cement or wax has solidified, a tinfoil ring 16, say 5/1000 of an inch in thickness and having an inside diameter of V of an inch and an outside diameter of 1 inch is centrally affixed to the convex face of the plate in such a way that its inside edge is evenly spaced apart at all points by of an inch from the outside edge of the tinfoil electrode 15. stated, a connector element is provided integrally with the tinfoil ring 16 and extends to the watch bezel 14. This connector 17 is preferably covered by thin dielectric material such as a piece of insulating tape 29.

In order to place the element in operation, all that it is necessary to do is to attach the central terminal 19 to one terminal of asource of electric power, while any portion of the bezel is attached to the other terminal of saids ource, a suitable source of power for operating the above described element to produce the above described ozone output is an alternating current of 5000 volts.

In actual operation an element constructed as above described produced approximately the amount'of ozone stated and careful tests failed to show a measurable quantity of nitrous oxides or other oxidizing gases. While applicant does not wish to be limited to any particular theory of operation, it is believed that the production of As before.

pure ozone is accomplished in this device by so arranging the electrodes that there is no appreciable retreatment of air in the ozonizing zone. It has been found that by laterally spacing the electrodes on the opposite side of the dielectric plate 13, no appreciable amount of ozone is formed. This is believed to be due to the fact that this arrangement of electrodes does not pro duce a concentration of electric field in the small air pockets between the edges of the electrode 16 and the plate 13, which is suflicient to have any appreciable ozonizing effect. Experiments by the applicant have shown that if electrodes on oppositesides of a dielectric plate are arranged in overlapping relation, it is necessary to cover the edges of the exposed electrode with a dielectric cement in order to exclude air from the small pocket formed as above described. In the present device, the edges, particularly the inner edges, of the exposed electrodes 16 may be covered with dielectric cement but it has been found that pure ozone, as shown by careful tests, is produced by the present devic'e Without resorting to that expedient. Also, the direction of electrical breeze formed by electrical discharge which takes place between the electrodes of the present device is such that treated gas is immediately expelled from the ozonizing zone, and for this reason also, retreatment and the consequent formation of deleterious oxides is prevented. a

It is to be understood that the foregoing detailed description is illustrative of only one embodiment of my invention and that many variations may be made therein without departing from thescope of the invention or by the appended claims. For certain uses, for example, I may omit the metal ring 14 and use the connector 17 of the outer electrode as one of the terminals; or I may vary the internal wax-embedded terminal 19 in many ways in order to form a suitable connector for my uses. Also I may vary the size, shape and character of the ,tWo electrodes in manyways in order to change the character or quantity of the output of oxidizing gases.

What I claim is:

1. An ozonizing element comprising a dielectric plate having electrodes secured to the opposite faces thereof, said electrodes being laterally spaced from each other.

2. An ozonizing element comprising a dielectric plate having electrodes secured to the opposite faces thereof in non-overlapping relation, at least one of said electrodes being exposed to the gas being treated, and having its edge laterally spaced from an edge of said other electrode.

. 3. An ozonizing element comprising a dielectric plate having electrodes secured to the opposite faces thereof, at least one of said electrodes being exposed to the gas being treated and one of said electrodes extending around the periphery of the other electrode and having its inner edge outwardly spaced therefrom.

4. An ozonizing element comprising a dielectric plate having electrodes secured to the opposite faces thereof, said electrodes being I laterally spaced from each other, one of said electrodes being completely imbedded in dielectric material andhaving a connector element extending therethrough.

5. An ozonizing element comprising a dielectric body having a relatively smooth surface, a first electrode. secured to'said surface and a second electrode positioned within said dielectric body was to be insulated from said first electrode, said electrodes being positioned in substantial parallel planes and being laterally spaced from each other.

6. An ozonizing element comprising a dielectric plate of convexo-concave form, an electrode secured to the convex surface of said plate, a second electrode secured to the concave surface of said plate, the concave portion of said plate being filled with dielectric material so as to completely cover said second electrode and a connector element extending from said second electrode through said dielectric material.

7. An ozonizing element comprising a dielectric plate of convexo-concave form, an electrode secured to the convex surface of said plate, a second electrode secured to the concave surface of said plate, the concave portion of said plate being filled with dielectric material so as to completely cover said second electrode, a connector element extending from said second electrode through said dielectric material, said dielectric plate having its outer edge positioned in a metallic supporting rim and a connector extending from said first electrode to said rim.

8. An ozonizing element comprising a dielectric plate, a disc-shaped metal foil electrode secured to one side of said plate, a ring-shaped metal foil electrode secured to the opposite side of said plate, said ring-shaped electrode extending around the outer periphery of said discshaped electrode and having its inner edge outwardly spaced therefrom.

ROBERT JOHN. 

